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OPAL takes home runner-up trophy at prestigious Lottery Award

OPAL Water led by UCL Geography

The Open Air Laboratories project (OPAL), a consortium led from Imperial College, was recognised as one of the UK’s best environment projects at the National Lottery Awards 2011 in London on Saturday 5th November.

UCL Geography’s contribution, run from the Environmental Change Research Centre by Neil Rose, Simon Turner and Ben Goldsmith, is the OPAL Water Centre, one of the six national surveys running through the 5 year project. It is designed to involve people in learning more about pollution in lakes and ponds.

OPAL beat hundreds of projects from across the UK to take home a runner-up trophy at the gala ceremony, broadcast live on BBC One and hosted by MyleeneKlass. On accepting the award, Dr Linda Davies, OPAL Director, said “We are absolutely delighted to have our project recognised with this award. Through OPAL, we are developing a new generation of nature-lovers, not just children and young people, but also adults who haven’t had the opportunities to get involved with nature”.

OPAL was pipped to the post by the Green Valley Centre, Bryncynon, which transformed an old waste ground into a thriving community garden providing local people with skills and training to grow local produce. The National Lottery Awards are an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects. All the projects entered in the competition had already received Lottery funding and the Awards recognise the difference that these projects make to local communities, and celebrate the achievements of the people behind them.